Tectonic Shift in the Spirit Realm

“After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake….”Matthew 28:1-2a (NIV)

I have not experienced an actual earthquake. I should actually say that I haven’t consciously and physically felt the effects of an earthquake though a sensitive seismograph might have indicated that the earth shifted deep beneath me. In my travels to the west coast and the Pacific I’ve wondered if I’ll ever have that experience. It’s just curiosity, though you can believe me when I tell you that I’m perfectly content never to experience it.

As I finished Matthew this morning I was struck by the earthquake that accompanied the events of the resurrection. It brought to mind that Matthew also recorded that an earthquake that shook Jerusalem the previous Friday afternoon as Jesus breathed His last breath on the cross.

Throughout the Great Story we find a connection between God and creation. Unique events in the natural realm are regularly an indicator or agent of things happening in the spirit realm: flood, fire, cloud, fish, locust, river, ocean, drought, rain, wind, storm, plague, and earthquakes. Jesus is crucified. A massive shift occurs in the Spirit realm, and the earth cries out. A few days later the Spirit realm experiences another massive shift as Jesus is rises from the dead. Once again creation cries out in the form of an earthquake.

We know that earthquakes occur when massive tectonic plates shift far beneath the surface of the earth. It’s happening all the time, even though we can’t necessarily feel it. I went out to earthquaketrack.com this morning and was surprised to find that there have been 10 earthquakes in the past few days here in the southern part of the midwest region of the United States. Who knew? Yet when the shift or collision of the plates is strong enough we not only do we feel it on the surface experience its life changing effect.

God’s Message says that God’s invisible qualities and eternal nature can clearly be seen by what has been made. Creation reveals the Creator. So it is this morning that I’m meditating on the spiritual word picture God reveals in earthquakes. God is constantly moving, shifting and at work underneath the surface of our lives. We may not feel it feel it for days, months, or years, but that doesn’t mean that God isn’t moving and shifting things. Once in a while, however, the tectonic plates of the Spirit make a massive shift and we both feel it and experience its life changing effects.